Paul F. Johner (10 September 1887, in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, Switzerland – 25 October 1938, in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Germany) was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

master. A noted musician (

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist), elder brother of Hans Johner, he won the Swiss Championship six times, namely in 1907 (joint), 1908 (joint), 1925, 1928 (joint), 1930 and 1932 (joint), and played for Switzerland at second board in 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad at Munich 1936 (+4 –7 =6). He played in many international tournaments. In 1904 he tied for 12-13th in Coburg (

DSB Congress The '' Deutscher Schachbund'' (DSB) was founded in Leipzig on 18 July, 1877. When the next meeting took place in the Schützenhaus on 15 July 1879, sixty-two clubs had become member of the chess federation. Hofrat Rudolf von Gottschall became Ch ...

, ''Hauptturnier A''). In 1905/06 he took 2nd in New York. In 1907 he took 21st in Carlsbad (

Akiba Rubinstein Akiba Kiwelowicz Rubinstein (1 December 1880 – 14 March 1961) was a Polish chess player. He is considered to have been one of the greatest players never to have become World Chess Champion. Rubinstein was granted the title International Grandma ...

won). In 1908 he took 14th in Vienna ( Oldřich Duras,

Géza Maróczy Géza Maróczy (; 3 March 1870 – 29 May 1951) was a Hungarian chess player, one of the leading players in the world in his time. He was one of the inaugural recipients of the Grandmaster (chess), International Grandmaster title from FIDE in 1 ...

and

Carl Schlechter Carl Schlechter (2 March 1874 – 27 December 1918) was a leading Austro-Hungarian chess master and theoretician at the turn of the 20th century. He is best known for drawing a controversial World Chess Championship match with Emanuel Lasker. Ea ...

won), and took 8th in Düsseldorf ( Frank Marshall won). In 1909 he took 4th in Berlin. In 1911 he tied for 19th-21st in Carlsbad (

Richard Teichmann Richard Teichmann (24 December 1868 – 15 June 1925) was a German chess master and a chess composer. He was known as "Richard the Fifth" because he often finished in fifth place in tournaments. But in 1911 he scored a convincing win in Karl ...

won). In 1916, Paul Johner won the 9th

Nordic Chess Championship The Nordic Chess Championship (''Nordiska Schackkongressen'') is a biennial chess tournament which determines the champion of the Nordic countries. The first edition took place in Stockholm in 1897. History The winners in the Nordic Championship in ...

at Copenhagen. He shared for 1st with Walter John at Berlin 1917, and won at Göteborg 1920 (B tourn). He was individual best alongside

Rudolf Spielmann Rudolf Spielmann (5 May 1883 – 20 August 1942) was a Jewish-Austrian chess master of the romantic school, and chess writer. Career Spielmann was born in 1883, second child of Moritz and Cecilia Spielmann, and had a younger brother Edgar, an ...

at the strong Scheveningen tournament 1923, organised to celebrate 50th anniversary of The Royal Chess Federation, above players like

Richard Réti Richard Réti (28 May 1889 – 6 June 1929) was an Austro-Hungarian and later Czechoslovak chess player, chess author and composer of endgame studies. He was one of the principal proponents of hypermodernism in chess. With the exception of N ...

Jacques Mieses Jacques Mieses (born Jacob Mieses; 27 February 1865 – 23 February 1954) was a German chess player. Mieses, who was Jewish, fled the Nazi regime in 1938 and later became a British citizen. Hooper, David and Kenneth Whyld 1996. ''The Oxford comp ...

, Edgar Colle, Frederick Yates, or young

Max Euwe Machgielis "Max" Euwe (; May 20, 1901 – November 26, 1981) was a Dutch chess player, mathematician, author, and chess administrator. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, a title he held from 1935 ...

(20 players). A brand new system was introduced in this event, which since then is known as the '

Scheveningen system The Scheveningen system () is a method of organizing a chess match between two teams. Each player on one team plays each player on the other team. The team with the highest number of games won is the winner. This system was a popular way to cr ...

' after the suburbs of Hague where the tournament took place. Every player from the first team played against every player of the second team (i.e. Foreigners versus The Netherlands). Paul Johner remained the only unbeaten player, scoring 8.5/10. Paul Johner triumphed at the Trieste International Festival 1923 (organized as a singular invitation tournament), finishing clear first in the top group ahead of 2.

Esteban Canal Esteban Canal (April 19, 1896 – February 14, 1981) was a leading Peruvian chess player who had his best tournament results in the 1920s and 1930s. Born in Chiclayo, Peru, he later lived in Italy, and died in Varese. As a chess player Canal wa ...

, 3. Frederick Yates, 4.

Siegbert Tarrasch Siegbert Tarrasch (; 5 March 1862 – 17 February 1934) was a German chess player, considered to have been among the strongest players and most influential theoreticians of the late 19th and early 20th century. Life Tarrasch was born in Bresla ...

, 5. Stefano Rosselli, 6.= Lajos Asztalos, etc. (12 players). Paul Johner also took the Berlin 1924 tournament, a Quadrangular, ahead of Akiba Rubinstein, Richard Teichmann, and Jacques Mieses.Name Index to Jeremy Gaige's Chess Tournament Crosstables
/ref> In 1925, he finished joint second after Hans Kmoch, together with

Savielly Tartakower Savielly Tartakower (also known as ''Xavier'' or ''Ksawery'' ''Tartakower'', less often ''Tartacover'' or ''Tartakover''; 21 February 1887 – 4 February 1956) was a Polish chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster (chess), Internatio ...

(12 players, including Ernst Gruenfeld, David Przepiorka,

Lajos Steiner Lajos Steiner (14 June 1903, in Nagyvárad ( Oradea) – 22 April 1975, in Sydney) was a Hungarian–born Australian chess master. Steiner was one of four children of Bernat Steiner, a mathematics teacher, and his wife Cecilia (née Schwarz) ...

and Lajos Asztalos) at Debrecen. According to the retrospective (historical) chessmetrics ratings, Paul Johner was ranked in January 1921 as number 10 in the world.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johner, Paul 1887 births 1938 deaths Swiss chess players Sportspeople from Zurich